Thread: Operations Mgr.

I have been working for a midium sized lawn and landscape co. in Michigan for about 5 years. I started out as a Lawn grunt, went on to running a mowing crew and then was given the job of over seeing all 3 lawn crews. Now a while later i do 95% of the companys sales (landscaping, brick paving, lawn maintenance, and snow plowing). I also "run" all the crews at the company. I am in charge of 3 (soon to be 4) mowing crews, 1 landscape crew, 1 brick paving crew, and a fleet of plow/salt trucks in the winter months. The companys gross anual sales are aprox 750,000. I sometimes think for such a responsible job I am under paid. Does anyone have any ball park ideas what such a position should pay?

I come from a non-green service industry that is very similar to lawn care. A position similar to what you described: Generating Revenue, overseeing 10-12 individuals with diverse duties, routing, 5-7 years industry experience, no P&L responsibility, under $1M operating budget would fall into the $37.5 -$42.5K range. Entry level positions fall into the $9.50 to $10 per hour range, Level 1 supervision (Lead) $15 to $18 per hour range.

This is not a green related industry but is a very similar in structure in the Midwest/Northeast area. Hope this helps..

Grassman is probably pretty close.
According to ALCA's most recent Employee Compensation Report, a "Multi-Crew Supervisor/Superintendent" in a company doing $500K to $2M beginning rate is about $26K. Experienced rate is $32.5K.

A Production Manager is at $20K beginning rate and about $38K experienced rate.

The job described seems to fall somewhere between these too. I seriously doubt it would fall into the realm of "Operations Manager" in an operation that size, unless the owner is 100% absentee.

Full blown Operations Managers (from my experience talking with others within ALCA) oversee budgets in excess of $2M annually. Pay for that level is most likely in the $40K to $50K range, with a possible bonus that might get it to $56-$60K depending upon profitability and customer satisfaction ratios.

My people make more than that, but we are intentionally above the ALCA averages across the country. And, we're doing quite abit more in overall revenue than almost everyone who participated in responding to the survey for the ALCA Report, which does make a difference.

The owner does the budget with my help and projections.
The owner deal with the overseeing of accounts payable and accounts receivable. Just about every other aspect is me. Everone is being a great help with your answers so far. Thank you

I may be a bit slow on this but with 2 landscape crews (landscape and hardscape) I would expect to see sales in that area of $550K-$650K leaving $100K-$200K for mowing? plus thats including snow??? a serious look at your budget and man power usage might be needed.

It looks to me like something isn't going right within the comapny. I know you probobly don't want to discuss many charecteristics of your company because the owner may be "spying" on you here, but maybe you should go offline with one of these guys and talk more in depth about it.